OAL secures £450k funding for robotics in food manufacturing
We’re delighted to announce that we have been awarded £448,850 to develop innovative APRIL™ robotics material handling systems for food manufacturers from Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency. The new project focuses on overcoming the well-documented productivity challenges food manufacturers face preparing ingredients. It will be led by engineers from OAL utilising the latest robotic and automation technologies.
The new one-year project, which is supported by a grant of £448,850 from the UK Government via Innovate UK and the EPSRC's Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) research fund, will focus on automating the processes of handling, weighing and transporting the raw ingredients. It will also make strides in developing key hygiene and food safety features which will be crucial when using robotic production systems within the food manufacturing sector. Researchers from the University of Lincoln will be supporting the project with work being undertaken at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, Holbeach, UK.
“Food manufacturers are facing rising costs and with little opportunity to increase their prices, they are seeking new and effective ways of improving productivity. Throughout the project, we’ll be taking a step-by-step approach, working our way through common operations found across the food manufacturing sector such as weighing, sieving, and moving ingredients around.
One criticism of automated systems in the past has been the lack of flexibility, but we will aim to develop flexible APRIL robotic systems that can handle some of these tasks and take the pressure off food manufacturers.”
Take the first step towards the robotic revolution with us - get in touch today.
APRIL™ shortlisted for Best Technology Innovation at the World Food Innovation Awards 2017
APRIL pouring water
We’re pleased to announce that our APRIL™ Robot Chef has been shortlisted for the World Food Innovation Awards 2017 in the category ‘Best Technology Innovation’. The esteemed judging panel, including the Global Sustainability Director for Mars, recognised the transformative impact robotics will have on making food manufacturing more consistent and flexible. The winner will be announced on Monday 20th March as part of the International Food and Drink Event (IFE), ExCel London. Click here to see the full list of finalists.
UK food manufacturing faces a number of significant challenges over the coming years, not least the impact Brexit will have on the availability of labour. Sticking with same old, labour-intensive processing and material handling technologies will become cost prohibitive and leave manufacturers unable to fulfil the wide range of products retailers and consumers have come to expect.
APRIL (Automated-Processing-Robotic-Ingredients-Loading) developed with the University of Lincoln, reimagines the food production line, placing robots at the heart of the way we handle and process raw ingredients. By combining advanced materials handling and processing technologies, APRIL can consistently emulate how chefs cook in a professional kitchen bringing more restaurant quality food to our supermarket shelves.
“We are excited by the new thinking involved in the APRIL robotic chef approach. Modular robotics cells may transform food manufacturing kitchens, by breaking up processes in a different way, in doing so providing a step change in performance.”
For manufacturers, smart, robotic food production lines will simplify the way we manufacture products offering flexible consistency. Factories will become up to 80% smaller and the increased levels of control will lead to a safer operating environment and improvements in product shelf-life.
The winner of this award will be announced on Monday 20th March at the International Food and Drink Event at the ExCel in London.
Robotics & Food Manufacturing 4.0. Are you ready?
Whether robots really belong in a food factory is becoming a no-brainer. In order for the food industry to improve and grow, robotics and automation WILL play a major role in the food manufacturing process. Andrea Paoli reveals how robots have taken root so far in our manufacturing systems and are set to revolutionise the food industry in Food Manufacturing 4.0 and beyond.
The value of robotics
Andrea Paoli presented a number of very enlightening figures when introducing the impact robotics will have in the future. Here are a few to set the scene:
The Bank of England in November 2015 predicted that over the next decade, 15 million jobs will be taken over by robots.
In 2020, the robot market is expected to hit a value over $83 thousand million.
It’s predicted that the global saving for using robotics in terms of labour cost is 16%.
By increasing investment in automation by £1.2 billion, this could raise the overall value added by the manufacturing sector to the UK economy by £60.5 billion. This could safeguard 106,000 jobs.
Since the industrial revolution, robots have gone from mechanical production equipment driven by water and steam all the way to cyber-physical systems which integrate computers, networking and physical processes. The degree of complexity of robotics is forever increasing. As you can see from the videos in Andrea's slides, the capabilities of robotics and automation have increased and improved dramatically. Is there anything they won’t be able to do?
So what does Food Manufacturing 4.0 look like?
Robotics and automation have progressed in such a way that it’s safe for them to work in collaboration with humans (HRC systems - Human/Robot Collaborative systems). They can work to full capacity 24/7 producing the same results they’re programmed to complete. This is impossible for humans to achieve to the same degree of accuracy and consistency.
Therefore, there is a massive opportunity for an increase in productivity for food manufacturers due to the reduced cycle and turnaround times. A robot can work within stabilised conditions without human interface. Not only does this improve the health and safety of the factory, it can also increase the shelf life of products contributing to reducing waste which is a very hot topic at the moment!
Working together with the University of Lincoln, OAL has been championing Food Manufacturing 4.0 and have developed a robotic chef APRIL. APRIL is facing up to the challenges food production is facing to introduce a flexible, automated, continuous, high volume system to food manufacturers. Read more about APRIL and her talents here.
How will a future food factory look?
A factory of the future will run on big data being used intelligently to improve decision making and planning. Cloud computing will allow for anything to be controlled, recorded or reported in real-time. With humans collaboratively working together with robots along with all the big data that will be available, factories will be able to optimise production, reduce wastage and improve product consistency and quality.
Join OAL on this journey by helping us educate the industry to deliver disruptive change in manufacturing securing your factory’s future as well as the future of the food manufacturing industry.
Ann Savage on the future of chilled food manufacturing
What is the right environment for chilled food innovation? Ann Savage, former Group Technical Director at Bakkavor, spoke at the Food Manufacturing 2030 Conference on the future of chilled food over the next ten years. Discussing the rise of new technologies including robotics, Ann highlighted the pressing need for food manufacturing to create the right conditions for successful innovation. After discussing a number of the wide-ranging challenges food manufacturing faces including environmental and significant cost pressures Ann stressed the importance of creating the right conditions for innovation in the UK. Collaboration between research institutions, technology providers and manufacturers will be very important in realising new developments. Likewise, further investment is needed in skills to realise the benefits of new technologies.
Ann has seen the tremendous growth of the chilled food market which has leapt from revenues of from £5 billion in 2000 to £11.4 billion in 2014 and is still growing. Discussing the benefits and rise of automation and robotics, Ann highlighted amongst others the following areas of interest:
Longer shelf life
Robots can work within controlled environment with limited exposure to bacteria and allergens often carried by people. There are significant opportunities for improving the shelf life of products, reducing waste and improving the overall safety and hygiene of the factory in this way.
Improve decision making
Automation within a factory can also reduce human decision-making. The collection and intelligent use of big data will allow problems to be resolved before they occur, as their played out in digital factories. This will allow factories to plan further ahead, reduce stoppages and save time on resources.
Farm to fork
Improved data collection and analysis will enhance food safety from farm to fork. Big data applications will enable full visibility of the supply chain with in-line quality checks enhancing protection against errors.
If you’d like to bring these benefits into your manufacturing facility, our experts can help you take the first step.
McKinsey report: where will automation replace humans in food manufacturing
Food service and manufacturing sit at the top of a recent McKinsey report that analysed work activities rather than occupations as a predictor of automation. By identifying jobs with predictable physical work, data processing or data collecting, they were able to assess the technical feasibility of automation. By breaking down jobs by activities, up to 59% of time spent at work in the US is highly susceptible to automation. Further analysis suggested that food service and manufacturing were more suited to automation than others i.e. many activities within food manufacturing are highly susceptible to automation.
Technical feasibility of automation in food
The McKinsey report highlights food manufacturing and food service as highly susceptible to automation due to the activities involved in the jobs (see figure 1). The main driver for this is the high amount of time people spend on predictable physical work. Often in food factories, people will undertake a high number of predictable activities such as lifting product, moving ingredients etc. (see figure 2).
In our experience, the trend fits for our customers who manufacture a smaller range of SKUs and have already been able to automate a high number of the predictable activities. This is in contrast to chilled food manufacturing, where upwards of 40 SKUs can be produced per day and predictable and unpredictable activities become intertwined.
One major part of the puzzle will be splitting out the predictable from the unpredictable physical work, thus enabling higher levels of adoption of robotics. For instance, lifting ingredients into a saucepan is a predictable task but judging the taste of the food requires the expertise of a chef, hence it isn't so susceptible to automation.
We're working with the University of Lincoln to develop robotic systems that provide manufacturers the flexibility to split out the predictable from the unpredictable thus enabling greater levels of automation. APRIL™ the Robot Chef installed at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing enables this flexibility by breaking down activities in a different way to traditional manufacturing processes.
Mckinsey Technical feasibility
Mckinsey industry Feasbility
Food Manufacturing 2030 Conference - APRIL to cook lunch
Get your lunch cooked by a robot and learn what food manufacturing could look like in 2030. Join us and other food industry leaders to ponder what food processing will look like when we're in driverless cars at the Food Manufacturing 2030 Conference at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, Holbeach, UK on Thursday 13 October 2016.
See the future
The food industry is ripe for change as it faces a perfect storm driven by the living wage, flat line productivity and food deflation. We believe in order to meet these challenges the industry must transform itself with flexible robotics and automation over the next two decades.
Share in our vision of the future and join us on Thursday 13 October 2016; listen to expert speakers and watch demonstrations as we debate food manufacturing in 2030. Designed for senior food professionals, the event is FREE to attend, and we expect strong discussions as we shape the future of our industry.
APRIL will cook your lunch
Our APRIL robotic food processing platform is pushing barriers and attendees will get a taste of the future as she's cooking lunch. Watch the future of ready meal production as APRIL (Automated Processing Robotic Ingredient Loading) effortlessly twirls a pan around the food processing hall combining ingredients, cooking and cleaning with no human intervention.
Expert speakers
We've brought together thought leaders from across the food industry to provide insights into why and how the food industry will change by 2030. Speakers include:
Simon Lushey, Specialist Technical Manager at Marks & Spencer, will be speaking about why innovation is important to retailing.
Ann Savage, Technical Specialist (Former Group Technical Director at Bakkavor), will be speaking about the future of chilled food manufacturing.
Steve Osborn, Food Technology Scout, will be discussing the consumer trends that will shape food manufacturing moving towards 2030.
Andrea Paoli, Senior Lecturer in industrial automation and robotics at the University of Lincoln, will be speaking about robotic technological developments.
More expert speakers are set to be announced.
Who should attend?
The event is designed for senior food processing and industry professionals looking to learn how robotics and automation will transform their food businesses. Expected delegate job titles include:
Managing Director, Operations Director, Technical Director, Innovation Director, General Manager, Technology/Innovation Manager, NPD Manager, Continuous Improvement Manager
Making big data small in food manufacturing
Confused about the impact of big data on food manufacturing? We believe many food manufacturers already have the data and our focus is better directed to the meaningful presentation of figures to deliver operational improvements.
Originally featured as a guest article on www.bakeryandsnacks.com
There’s a lot of excitement about the internet of things (IoT) and big data but realistically many larger food manufacturers already have access to lots of data. When we speak with our customers, often the idea of more data is seen as a distraction. There are bigger opportunities for operational improvements in presenting data in an informative and actionable way. For big data to be a success, data must be more informative, actionable and timely.
OAL big data bakery SCADA screen
Informative big data
What use is all the data about a process if it’s not easily understood by engineers and operators? One of the big switches we’ve made on our control systems is how we present data. For instance, when you compare our traditional SCADA screens to our newly developed screens they look completely different. Designed with user experience at its core, the new visuals seek to present information that is much more relevant to the end user. For a bakery process, traffic light systems easily indicate if there are any issues relating to humidity, temperature etc. If they’re all green no worries at all. Likewise representing the flow of product as blocks as opposed to how the system operates clearly indicates bottlenecks and breaks in production.
Actionable big data
Data, no matter what its size, is useful to management, engineers and decision makers when it’s actionable. We’ve brought vegetable preparation lines into the 21st century by providing individual operators a screen with real time yield, production feedback and all their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Previously multiple operators would be reliant on a single beacon to track weight. Now actionable data can be presented on an individual basis to improve yield and performance. For both management and operators, it’s clear if an individual is giving away too much product and both parties have the information to hand to take action.
Timely big data
Reviewing yesterday’s production reports looking for insights leaves manufacturers in a reactive state. Manufacturing excellence requires proactive responses to data. Timely delivery of data removes distractions and allows operators and engineers to focus on the job at hand until required. Simple things like changing the colour of a screen from blue, when the downtime is planned, to red, when the downtime runs over are easily understandable.
OAL Factory Performance Changeover
Big data has the potential to be extremely powerful but only if it’s presented in a timely, informative, actionable manner to end users - take the first step today!
Time to act: robotics in food and beverage manufacturing
APRIL™ Robot Chef
Food manufacturing is facing a perfect storm driven by the living wage; flat line productivity and food deflation. Advanced technology and robotics can address these issues yet the UK is seriously lagging behind the developed world in its implementation. The Office of National Statistics recently announced that the UK has returned to recession for the 3rd time in 8 years. A dive in productivity further underlines the challenge in the UK manufacturing sector. The UK now has a 30% lower GDP per hour than countries such as the US, France and Germany. It must be time for food and drink, the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, to act.
The impact of robotics
In 2014, global robot sales increased by 29% to 229,261 units with the main growth seen in the automotive industry, representing 40% of all robots sold. The UK food and drink sector has a 10-year average adoption rate of just 63 robots a year!
China has expanded its leading position in the adoption of robotics with 25% of the total supply in 2014. High productivity countries such as Germany, France and US show a strong correlation to the number of robotic installations, with the US and Germany featuring in the five countries accounting for 70% of all robot sales along with China, Japan and Korea. France also increased investment in robotics, while the UK’s commitment has been in decline. The forecast for robotic installations sees China looking to around 150,000 by 2018, double the 2014 levels, compared to the UK whose outlook is relatively flat during the same period. The other industrial nations have shown steady growth during the same period.
With the food and beverage sector at such low levels of commitment and as such an important economic contributor, the use of robotics must become part of the vision for the future food factory, and the move to Food Manufacturing 4.0.
Barclay’s bank (2015) forecasts that an investment of £1.2bn in automation will add £60bn to the UK economy, ultimately safeguarding 106,000 jobs. Barclays note that the food and drink sector would be one of the primary sectors to benefit, with productivity improvements of 25% being achieved by 2025. Early indications are proving that embracing automation has enhanced productivity and lead to job creation.
Global centre of excellence for robotic food manufacturing
Working with the University of Lincoln we have been championing Food Manufacturing 4.0 and have developed the transformative APRIL™ Robot Chef. APRIL is challenging the way food production lines are set out, moving away from ‘traditional’ linear continuous production, where high volume and limited flexibility have been the watchwords. APRIL will deliver a system that introduces a return to flexible batch systems, but with intelligent and integrated scheduling that optimises production, improves efficiency and in doing so enhances productivity – Potentially more traditional than continuous linear systems in reality?
At the successful launch of the APRIL Robot Chef in April, we set out our vision to create a Global Centre of Excellence for Robotic Food Manufacturing at the University of Lincoln to:
Educate the industry.
Partner with visionary early adopters.
Deliver disruptive change in manufacturing.
If you’re interested in transforming your facility and bucking the productivity trend, get in touch with our experts!
Successful APRIL™ Robot Chef launch & slides
We launched APRIL™ the Robot Chef at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing during a conference with the University of Lincoln focused on understanding how robotics and automation will change food processing. Food manufacturing is facing a perfect storm driven by the living wage; flat lining productivity and food deflation. Advanced technology and robotics can address these issues yet the UK is seriously lagging behind the developed world in its implementation. Speakers discussed different aspects of this challenge which culminated in live demonstrations of the APRIL™ Robot Chef system in our state-of-the-art test centre.
Food professionals view Steam Infusion & cryogenic cooling
Moving forward, our vision is to create a Global Centre of Excellence for Robotic Food Manufacturing at the University of Lincoln that will:
Educate the industry
Partner with visionary early adopters
Deliver disruptive change in manufacturing.
The APRIL™ system demonstrates the potential of robotics to deliver competitive advantage for food manufacturers and how they can overcome existing challenges e.g. traceability, flexibility, adaptability, quality etc.
Speakers included:
Andrea Paoli, Senior Robotics Lecturer at the University of Lincoln explaining the basics and future of robotics.
Jeff Nowill, CEO, Kuka Robotics UK on the intersector knowledge transfer opportunities for the adoption of robots.
Ian Beauchamp, OAL's Head of Process Engineering on the challenges robotics can overcome on the shop floor.
Mark Swainson, Principal lecturer on the challenges robotics can overcome on the shop floor.
Harry Norman, OAL's Managing Director describing his vision of robotic food manufacturing.
Here are the slides from the day (they can be downloaded by clicking through to Slideshare for Jake Norman’s slides and Jeff Nowill’s slides)
Biographies of speakers:
Andrea Paoli
Andrea has been a Senior Lecturer in Industrial Automation and Robotics since 2014 at the University of Lincoln where he serves as the Programme Leader for the brand new BEng Automation Engineering programme. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and a member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society UK organising committee.
Jeff Nowill
Jeff is a chartered engineer; having completed an apprenticeship at Dunlop Aviation, and a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Coventry University. He joined KUKA in 2009, and is CEO of the UK and Irish operations, and sits on the board of ESPRC’s RAS network. KUKA boast a turnover in excess of €3 billion, as a world-class manufacturer of industrial robots and automation solutions.
Ian Beauchamp
Ian’s background is control engineering and business. He draws on over thirty years’ experience working for companies such as P&G and APV within R&D, design, project management together with leading product, service and engineering activities. Ian facilitated Performance Optimisation projects within the food industry in a global position utilising Six Sigma and Lean Methodologies.
Mark Swainson
Mark’s industrial background is Technical and Operations Management within the high risk chilled and frozen food industry. He is listed on the European Food Safety Authority Food Safety Experts Database, is an experienced Lead Auditor and a member of the Institute of Packaging. Mark conducts industry based research to address specific food industry challenges; Quality, Safety and Hygiene Control Systems, Advanced Process Technologies & Automation, Food Supply Chains, Microbiological Safety and Shelf Life
Harry Norman
Harry was just 28, with only a few years of industry experience and a first class degree in controls and automation when he founded OAL (Olympus Automation Ltd) in 1993. OAL now supply cutting edge food manufacturing systems for leading blue chip clients such as Allied Bakeries and Bakkavor that have increased the efficiency and consistency of their manufacturing operations.
OAL partners with Macmillan Cancer Support for 2016 fundraising
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In 2016 OAL will be running, cycling, baking and more to fund raise for Macmillan Cancer Support. As our official 2016 charity, we hope to assist Macmillan (made up of professionals, volunteers and campaigners) in their journey to offer support and inspiration to those affected by cancer, to take back control of their lives.
There are currently 2.5 million people living with cancer in the UK alone with that number expected to reach four million by 2030, so there is no time like the present. It costs £27 for a Macmillan nurse for an hour, that nurse could provide emotional and practical support as well as essential medical advice to those affected by cancer. Nobody should have to go through cancer alone so if you would like to join us in supporting this fantastic charity.
Find out more about our social responsibility!
OAL secures £60,000 for APRIL™ robot development
We are pleased to announce we have received a £60,000 Agri-Tech Growth Grant for the development of our robotic food processing system, APRIL™. The grant will be used to further develop APRIL™, our fully automated robotic food manufacturing cell that will boost production, efficiency and improve the quality of food produced.
“OAL is transforming the food manufacturing industry through their technology. The APRIL™ system will kick-start the industry’s move towards fully automated production lines, allowing food to be produced quicker, with less waste and greater precision.”
APRIL™ robot with food basket
A full size demonstration system is being built at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing part of the University Lincoln in Holbeach, Lincolnshire - come and learn more about the technology.
OAL sponsors Cambridgeshire Kidsafe Scheme
OAL is delighted to announce that we are a proud sponsor of Kidsafe, an organisation that actively commits to helping keep kids safe across the UK and EIRE. Unfortunately, kids’ safety is a major issue these days for everyone involved including parents and teachers. The philosophy at Kidsafe is to make children more aware of the dangers they face without destroying their sense of adventure, they believe the best approach is to make learning about safety fun.
“OAL is pleased to sponsor the Kidsafe School Safety Pack; it’s an important scheme and we like to get involved with and help local charities.”
OAL has sponsored the ‘School Safety Pack’ which is distributed to primary schools around the Cambridgeshire area, in order to educate them on the responsibility of their own safety. This pack includes a ‘Get Home Safely’ game which visually demonstrates the actions to take when faced with issues over their own safety, in a fun board game inspired layout.
OAL discusses APRIL™ at Future Food Horizons
Back in October, OAL travelled to Chester to take part in the Future Food Horizons Conference and introduce APRIL to industry and academic professionals. The conference, led by The University of Chester, was designed to tackle social challenges through food science and innovation. Jake Norman from OAL joined speakers from Innocent, Quorn, Muller and Sainsburys to discuss how they could turn their insights into food and innovation into a solution for social challenges.
Jake's presentation explains how OAL are using insights from the automotive industry to change food manufacturing with the introduction of APRIL™.
Ready to transform your facility? Get in touch with our experts today!
Harry Norman on the launch of APRIL
Harry Norman spoke to Food Bev Magazine back in October, about the introduction of APRIL, robotic food processing. We were invited to speak about innovation at the Next Generation Manufacturing conference at Gulfood Manufacturing in Dubai. Whilst at the show Darren Wood of FoodBev media caught up with OAL's Managing Director, Harry Norman, to discuss our new product.
“We are launching a new product into the market called APRIL which will revolutionise the way the front end processing of food factories is handled.”
Ready to take the next step towards the robotic revolution? Get in touch today!
APRIL™ wins Cambridge Open Innovation Food & FMCG Pitching Event
Our game-changing food processing innovation APRIL™ won over judges from Tesco, General Mills and Mars at the fourth Food & FMCG Innovation Pitching Event. The Cambridge University event took place at Food Matters Live In London, where we pitched APRIL (Automated Processing Robotic Ingredient Loading) to the esteemed group of judges. The judges recognised APRIL's ability to change the way we manufacture food by offering "chef-standard" food whilst significantly reducing production costs.
APRIL is the first of its kind and represents a step change in food processing; enabling parallel food processing and the emulation of a professional chef on an industrial scale.
APRIL will be available for demonstrations in early 2016 at our test centre at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing.
OAL leads research project into cryogenic cooling
We’re pleased to announce the launch of our latest research project set to revolutionise ready meals with cryogenic cooling in partnership with BOC, The University of Lincoln and Iceland Manufacturing. The £969,000 project, part funded by Innovate UK will last two years and aims to develop an innovative cooking and cryogenic cooling system for ready meals providing a step change in product quality and healthiness. The project seeks to help tackle the current levels of food waste and increase the speed of production.
The project will combine our rapid cooking Steam Infusion Vaction™ technology with a cryogenic cooler from BOC. It follows our first major Innovate UK project ‘Nutrition for Life’, that has focused on understanding the full operating envelope of our Steam Infusion cooking technology and it's effects on nutrition and food safety.
Over the two-year project, the team plans to gain a full scientific understanding of the effects of rapid cooling using liquid nitrogen on sauces and soups, and the vegetables, fruits and meats they contain in order to maximise nutritional values. Product shelf life could also be increased and waste minimised as we will develop a fully flexible process that will reduce production, cleaning and changeover times for increasingly variable supply requirements.
Interview on APRIL™ & Food is Life at PPMA 2015
At the PPMA Show 2015, we were interviewed about our involvement with Food is Life and APRIL™, our food processing robot. APRIL will enable food processing without any platforms or pipework in a smaller factory. Bringing together state-of-the-art technologies, she will increase capacity, significantly reduce the number of operators and produce safer, better looking, tastier foods.
Developed with the University of Lincoln at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, APRIL enables parallel food processing and can emulate a chef’s method of cooking on an industrial scale. Utilising grant funding from Innovate UK, we have put our expertise and skills into making this research concept a reality with a demonstration available early 2016.
We have been working closely with members of the Food Is Life consortium in the development of APRIL™. Food is Life firmly believes that the food industry can benefit from learning and exploiting technologies from the automotive industry to improve production and safety of food.
Join us at Food Matters Live 2015
Join us at Food Matters Live 2015 to find out how OAL is working with The Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) to bring best practice automotive manufacturing technologies to the food industry. The three day event running Tuesday 17 to Thursday 19 November at the Excel in London is the UK's first cross-sector event bringing together professionals from across the food and drink industry to address the most important challenges facing the food industry today including nutrition and population well-being.
Following two successful Innovate UK projects, OAL has been invited to speak on the KTN stand about both our Steam Infusion and cryogenic cooling projects. We will also be available to talk about our latest development APRIL (Automated Processing Robotic Ingredient Loading) following widespread anticipation for the launch of the new system early 2016. APRIL was recently covered in bakeryandsnacks.com.
Both KTN and OAL are members of Food Is Life, a consortium, which will also be at the event with the stunning BMW i8, seeking to bring disruptive change to the food industry. If you’re interested in joining, it would be great to meet up at the show, you can either catch us on the KTN stand or at the BMW i8 (which will be positioned near the VIP lounge).
The free to attend event attracts thousands of visitors every year from backgrounds such as R&D, food science, manufacturing and retailing so register here to come along and we may even let you take a seat in the car!
Transforming food processing at Gulfood Manufacturing, Dubai
We're speaking about disruptive change at the Next Generation Manufacturing Conference, part of Gulfood Manufacturing 2015 in Dubai on Tuesday 27 October at 15:30. We were approached by organisers following the launch of our revolutionary APRIL™ food processing system. APRIL uses principles from the automotive sector to link proven state-of-the-art cooking and materials handling technologies with automated robotic ingredient loading.
The talk will provide insights into how APRIL™ style systems will change both factory layouts and the flow of materials through a food processing facility. By removing the need for pipework, pumps and valves, APRIL will produce more consistent and better quality products, faster than current processes with significantly reduced ingredient wastage and energy costs, whilst taking up to 80% less factory space.
APRIL™ has been developed in partnership with a leading global robot manufacturer and the University of Lincoln, with a full-size demonstration due for installation December 2015 at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing. The development has come off the back of two £1 million Innovate UK funded government projects into improving the efficiency and quality of food products. APRIL™ will integrate and enhance two existing technologies being researched under the two Innovate UK collaborative research projects into cryogenic cooling and rapid heating and mixing (Steam Infusion).
The three day show is the region's biggest food and beverage processing industry event and brings together suppliers from over 60 countries, showcasing the very latest improvements in manufacturing. The show is a popular knowledge transfer and sourcing event which allows attendees to explore solutions for potential expansion on production capacity, creating greater efficiency and much more!
APRIL™ draws the crowds at the PPMA Show 2015
i8
On the last week of September 2015 industry professionals from all around the world were enamoured by APRIL™ at the PPMA Show in Birmingham, UK. With dual presence at the show, we took the opportunity to introduce our new disruptive technology, APRIL, on the Food Is Life stand. APRIL combines proven state-of-the-art cooking and materials handling technologies with automated robotic ingredient loading, emulating a professional chef.
Food Is Life is a consortium focused on bringing disruptive change to the food industry and accordingly was the perfect setting to introduce APRIL™. The stunning BMW i8 was the perfect back drop for the launch, highlighting the knowledge transfer opportunities available between the food and automotive industry. Visitors sat in the car and were captivated by the video:
It was incredibly effective with many of the biggest names in food production stopping by to discuss their desire for step change improvements in food manufacturing. We are working closely with the University of Lincoln and Food Is Life partners to deliver Food Manufacturing 4.0 and the visitors strong reaction is a great driver to continue the pursuit of change.
Del Boy BMW i8
The three day event saw Del Boy and Joanna Lumley impersonators, an awards ceremony, countless customer meetings and chatter throughout.
OAL would like to say a massive thank you to the organisers of the PPMA and for all our customers, new and returning, for giving us the chance to introduce APRIL™ to the world.